STATUS OF CHILD STUDY 
IN EUROPE 

BY 

WII^I, S. MONROE 

State Normal Schooi,, Westfiei,d, Mass. 



REPRINTED FROM 

THE PEDAGOGICAL SEMINARY 

Sept., 1899, Vol. VI, pp. 372-381 



WORCESTER, MASS. 
1899 






WASHV 



3H\\^^' 



53180 






Status of Child Study in Europe, 



STATUS OF CHII.D STUDY IN EUROPE.' 



By Will S. Monroe, State Normal School, Westiield, Mass. 



It has seemed to the president of the child study department 
not inappropriate to present at this time a few facts bear- 
ing upon the status of the child study movement in some of 
the countries of Europe. In Great Britain, in France, in Ger- 
many and in Italy, advocates of child study have organized to 
an extent that is astounding to the most ardent supporters of 
the movement in America, where, more than anywhere else, 
child study has assumed commanding prominence, as a vital 
educational question. Workers in the foreign fields have 
kindly responded to requests for information regarding the 
status of the movement in their respective countries; and the 
hope has been expressed by a number of the friends of the 
cause abroad, that, at the great exposition to be held at Paris 
a year hence, there may be some formal organization of an 
international character. Some affiliation of the workers would 
unquestionably be helpful to all concerned; and it is to be hoped 
that the American friends of child study may not be remiss in 
co-operating with our friends and co-workers abroad in institut- 
ing such an international association. 

Great Britain. 

The following communication from Miss Kate Stevens, the 
honorable secretary of the London branch of the British Child 
Study Association, gives a clear notion of the child study ac- 
tivity now so marked in educational circles in Great Britain: 

In 1893 several English and Scotch teachers visited the In- 
ternational Educational Conference at Chicago as delegates. 
Some of these delegates became greatly interested in the work 
of Child Study, as there conducted by Dr. G. Stanley Hall. 
After further enquiry into the subject, and a visit paid by Miss 
Mary Eouch of the Ladies' College, Cheltenham, to the Sum- 
mer School of Clark University in 1894, it was resolved by 
Miss Louch, Miss Margaret A. Clapperton, of Edinburgh, and 
Miss Mary E. Crees, of London, to found a British Child Study 

_ ^President's address before the Child Study Department of the Na- 
tional Education Association at Los Angeles, California, July 12th, 
1899. 



STATUS OP CHILD STUDY IN EUROPE. 3 

Association. Advantage was taken by these delegates of the 
Summer Meeting at Edinburgh, in 1894, to explain the work 
and aims of the association to a number of people interested in 
education who were there assembled; and, as a result, the 
British Child Study Association was formed August, 1894, in 
Edinburgh, with Miss M. A. Clapperton as Honorable General 
Secretary, 

Branches were shortly afterwards founded by Miss I,ouch in 
Cheltenham and Miss Crees in London. Subsequently branches 
were formed in Derby, Newcastle-on-Tyne, Manchester and 
Birmingham. The total number of members is upwards of 
600. 

The aim of the association is to interest parents, teachers and 
others in the systematic observation of children and 3'oung 
people, with a view to gaining greater insight into child nature 
and securing more sympathetic and scientific methods of train- 
ing the young. 

In 1898, chiefly through the initiative of President Holman 
of the London Branch, in co-operation with the various Honor- 
able Secretaries, the Central Association, together with the 
Branches, was reorganized on a constitutional basis. A strong 
and influential central organization was formed, consisting. of 
the following officers: President, Dr. T. S. Clouston (Edin- 
burgh); Vice-Presidents, J. Adams, Esq. (Aberdeen), Profes- 
sor P. Geddes (Edinburgh), Professor Alexander ( Manchester) , 
M. W. Keatinge, Esq. (Oxford), Miss D. Beale (Cheltenham), 
Professor Lloyd Morgan (Bristol) , Mrs. Sophia Bryant (Lon- 
don), Dr. G. E. Shuttleworth (London), Professor Earl Barnes 
(America), Professor James Sully (London), Dr. Langdon-Down 
(London), Dr. Geo. Wilson (Edinburgh); Chairman of Coun- 
cil, Henry Holman, Esq., H. M. I. (Education Dept.); Hon. 
General Secretary and Treasurer, Mrs. R. Langdon-Down. 
Each branch manages its own local affairs through a committee, 
and also sends delegates to the Central Council. 

Early in 1899 it was resolved that the association should 
found a magazine, as the organ of the British Child Study As- 
sociation, and to be a medium of communication between the 
various branches. The magazine, entitled "The Paidologist," 
is to be issued thrice yearly, on April ist, July ist and October 
ist; price 6d. each issue; Editor, Miss Mary Louch, 7 Cambray 
House, Cheltenham, England. A start has been made in 
gathering together data from various grades of schools by 
teachers and others for collation; which is being undertaken 
by several members of the association, who hope in due course 
to present the result of these studies before the association. 

The British Child Study Association owes much of its inspi- 
ration and guidance in this field to Professor Earl Barnes, of 



4 STATUS OF CHILD STUDY IN EUROPK. 

America, who has aflforded invaluable help. The affiliated 
branches of the British Child Study Association are as follows: 



Branch. 


No. OF Members. 


Honorable Secretary. 


Cheltenham, 


170, 


f (i) Miss Mary Louch, 
1 (2) Miss R. Rooney, 

The Ladies' College, 

Cheltenham. 


I/ondon, 


131, 


'(i)Mrs. R. Langdon Down, 
(Also Hon. Geu. Sec.) 

81 Harley Street, 
London, N. W. 
(2) Miss Kate Stevens, 
Carlisle House, 

Dartmouth Park Hill, 
London, N. W. 


Edinburgh, 


113, 


Miss M. A. Clapperton, 
2 Granton Road, 

Edinburgh. 


Newcastle-on-Tyne, 


90, 


Miss M. S. Spivey, 
Estington Tower, 

Newcastle-on-Tyne. 


Derby, 


45, 


Miss C. H. Baker, 

The High School, 

Derby. 


Manchester, 


30, 


Miss Dendv, 

8 Brook Street, 
Fallowfield, Manchester. 


Birmingham, 


25 > 


Miss A. J. Dawes, 

44 Princess Road, 
Egbaston, Birmingham. 



France. 

The recent exhaustive studies of fatigue made by Pro- 
fessor Alfred Binet and M. Victor Henri aire certainly fa- 
miliar to American child study friends. Other studies, not 
unlike those made in the schools of New Haven by Professor 
Scripture, are now being made in the public schools of Paris. 
A recent movement in France, which seems to be assuming im- 
portant dimensions, centers about the study of abnormal chil- 
dren. The Revue iniernationale de Pidagogie comparative, an 
excellent monthly edited by Auguste Mailloux at Nantes, is pub- 
lished in the interest of this movement. Judged by the reviews, 
most of the activity in child study matters in France, has 



STATUS OF CHILD STUDY IN EUROPE. 5 

started from Lyons and been initiated by M. Gabriel Compayre, 
so well and so favorably known to American teachers, and the 
author of an important study of the child. The following let- 
ter from M. Compayr6 indicates briefly the present status of 
the movement in France. ' ' I have but little news to give you 
of child study in France, as we are far behind you. I send 
you the result of a preliminary inquiry with four hundred 
pupils of primary schools in the precincts of Lyons. We com- 
mence this inquiry by suggesting a competition among the 
pupils of all the schools upon the same subject of French com- 
position. The last subject proposed was this: 'Tell what 
you know of electric railways.' Lyons boasts of being the / 
French capital of railways. This inquiry is not yet completed. 

" My other slighter investigation which I am just beginning, 
but which promises some interesting results, is like this: I go 
into a kindergarten, have paper and pencils distributed to the 
children and ask them to draw for a half hour whatever they 
fancy; or I direct them to draw according to an outline which 
I give, — a man, a woman, a child, a young man, a full face, a 
profile, etc. 

"Then again, M. Chabot has given the instructors and the 
public institutions of Lyons and its suburbs a qiiestionnaire, on 
different points of pedagogical psychology. I send you this 
questionnaire, to which we have some replies already. You 
see that we are commencing to emulate you and ta be inspired 
by your excellent endeavors. 

' 'As to the rest of France, I observe but too little effort as yet. 
At Lille, the university has set up this year, a laboratory of 
education supervised by Professor Lefaire. About what is 
done at Paris at the laboratory of physiological psychology, 
under the direction of Professor Alfred Binet, V AnnSe Psycho- 
logique, whose fourth annual has appeared and with which you 
are doubtless familiar, will inform you very well. ' ' Since the re- 
ceipt of M. Compayre's letter, the Manuel general de V instruction 
primaire, edited by M. Ferdinand Buisson, Professor of peda- 
gogy in the University of Paris, and well known to Americans, 
announces a call for the organization of a national child study 
society in France. 

Italy. 

Miss Paola Lombroso, daughter of the eminent anthropol- 
ogist, has been one of the most active child study workers 
in Italy. Her investigations, "Essays in Child Psychology," 
were published at Turin, in 1894. Among the topics dis- 
cussed are: Mental development, morals, play, writing, com- 
position, etc., while the value of the work is enhanced by the 
addition of twelve monographs upon children personally known 



6 STATUS OF CHILD STUDY IN EUROPE. 

to and observed by the author. Miss Lorabroso's book worthily 
extends the field of investigation opened by Ferri's earlier 
essays. Other studies of more or less psychological interest 
are those of Anfosso on "Honesty in Children " (1897), Gel- 
mini on "Children's I^ies " (1894), Sergi's "Studies of the 
Sense of Order in School Children" (1898), which have ap- 
peared in various educational and scientific periodicals from 
time to time. Much of the work of Vitali also has been psy- 
chological. 

Colozza's work on "The Psychology and Pedagogy of Plaj"^ " 
(Turin, 1895,) treats the subject from the historical and psy- 
chological pedagogical points of view, discussing the various 
theories as to the nature and original significance of play, and 
reaching in conclusion two pedagogical laws, viz. , the teacher 
must not hurry on the appearance of play and a change to 
play of a different sort, not absolute rest, is necessary when 
children tire of a given play. Colozza's book is full of interest 
for the teacher, and he sympathizes more or less with those who 
seek to relieve the kindergarten of the marionettism which is 
so often associated with it — the cki/d himself should play. 
Colozza has also published a study of "Inhibition " (1898). 

Riccardi's "Anthropology and Pedagogy," of which only 
the first part has as yet appeared ( Modena, 1892,), is the most 
ambitious contribution of the kind, dealing with the sociology 
of the child in and out of school. Altogether Riccardi has made 
100,000 observations on over 2,000 pupils from seven to eighteen 
years of age in the schools of Modena and Bologna. The 
volume under discussion is concerned with social condition of 
children and parents, moral education and its effects, moral en- 
vironment, family influence, interest of parents in the school, 
degeneracy, only children, intelligence, temperament, studious- 
ness, attention, ambition, vanity, pride, study -preference, in 
all their varied relationships with each other. For Riccardi, 
the school is a little human society, and the children who pass 
into it ought to receive the best heredity the race can give. 
Much and most efl&cient work in Italy has also been done by 
Martino Beltrani-Scalia in the study of the physical and mental 
conditions of juvenile delinquents and of abandoned and neg- 
lected children. His investigations have been sociological as 
well as psychological. 

Ottolenghi's studies on "Sensibility and Age" (1895) have 
shown the increase of sensibility with age and the apparent 
less sensibility of women. Garbini, whose study of the " In- 
fant's Voice" appeared in 1892, has since published elaborate 
investigations of the "Evolution of the Color Sense" (1894), 
and "Evolution of the Sense of Smell" (1896). As to color 
sense, Garbini studied 557 children from three to six years of 



STATUS OF CHIIvD STUDY IN EUROPE. 7 

age, and as to the sense of smell, 415 children of ages between 
three and six, the general results of all his investigations being 
to confirm the idea of the recapitulation of the racial history 
by the individual. 

The most interesting of recent Italian studies in the motor 
field is Obici's investigations on the " Embryology of Writing " 
(1898), based on the school exercises of twenty-five children of 
both sexes in two Italian schools, from the day of entering to 
that of leaving. Children seem to err most in excess of 
movement. 

Besides the extensive studies of the criminological school of 
Lombroso, its advocates and opponents, which have contributed 
so much to our knowledge of defective children and youth, the 
labors of Mosso, Pagliani, Livi, Riccardi, Mantegazza, Morselli, 
Regalia, and Sergi, have made Italian anthropological science fa- 
miliar to the world outside during the past quarter of a century, 
lyivi's monumental study of Italian soldiers appeared in 1894, 
since which time several investigations more akin to the child- 
study movement in America have been reported. The chief of 
these are Dr. G. Marina's "Anthropological and Ethnographic 
Studies on Boys" (Turin, 1896,), and "Anthropological Studies 
on Adults" (Turin, 1897,) ^^^ Professor Vitali's "Anthropo- 
logical Pedagogical Studies" (2 vols. , Forli, 1896, Turin, 1898,). 
Professor Vitali's investigations (anthropometric, psycho-phys- 
ical, mental constitution, character, etc.,) are in the nature of 
a parallel study of 303 boys and 372 girls, between the ages of 
eleven and twenty, belonging to the district of the Romagna, 
and are a distinctively new contribution to the study of sex in 
childhood and youth. As a result of his investigation, Professor 
Vitali expresses himself as strongly in favor of co-education, 
and the production of mothers who have not ceased to grow or 
to learn. Dr. Marina's researches, besides giving a general 
resume of the subject, treat in detail of over 22,000 boys (be- 
tween ten and twenty years of age) and nearly 23,000 adults 
(from twenty to forty years), the great majority of both being 
Italians. Dr. Marina, as a result of his researches, refuses to 
believe in the existence of a criminal type anatomically char- 
acterized, and warns against the dogmatism that sees everything 
in one or two anatomical or physical characteristics. 

Marro's comprehensive study of "Puberty in Man and 
Woman " (Turin, 1898,), contains a mine of valuable informa- 
tion, largely based on personal investigation and research, 
about all phenomena of sex and sexuality. 

Rising above the host of pamphlets and articles which have 
appeared in the last few years, Ferriani's study of " Juvenile 
Criminals" (Turin, 1895,), which has since been translated into 
German, sums up the data concerning the child in relation to 



8 STATUS OF CHII.D STUDY IN EUROPE. 

crime and the criminal in an able and convincing manner. 
While not a hide-bound lyombrosan, Ferriani certainly sees 
more innate evil in the child than most German and American 
anthropologists seem willing to discover. Details of the crimi- 
nal acts and tendencies of 2,000 young criminals coming under 
the observation of the author are given, and the book is one of 
profound interest altogether. Ferriani holds that with few 
exceptions the criminal carries the germ of his criminality with 
him out of childhood, and that during that period environment 
of good is of inconceivable power. 

Mosso's "Physical Education of Youth" (Turin, 1894,), 
which has been translated into several European languages, is 
in many respects the best book extant on the subject of which 
it treats. Physician, physiologist, educator, — the author is per- 
haps the ablest defender of the natural method of gymnastics, 
free air, free limbs, free action. Most valuable, also, is the 
"Report of the Commission on Physical Education " (Rome, 
1893.), the recommendations of which run largely in the direc- 
tion of Mosso's views, the latter having, with many other 
distinguished men, served on the commission. Nature's methods 
(plays and games) are to be preferred, whenever possible.^ 

Germany. 

American students of childhood will always owe Germany 
a large debt of gratitude for the splendid labors of the late 
Professor Preyer, the sense of whose loss is still so fresh upon 
us. The following communication from Dr. J. Stimpfl, pro- 
fessor in the State Normal School at Bamberg (Bavaria), in- 
dicates what is being done in Germany. Dr. Stimpfl, it should 
be noted in passing, besides having translated Sully's " Studies 
of Childhood " and Tracy's " Psychology of Childhood " into 
German, has made numerous and most acceptable contribu- 
tions to the literature of pedagogy and cognate subjects in the 
professional reviews of his own country. He writes : ' ' In- 
terest in the study of child mind has increased with both psy- 
chologists and educators from year to year, and in North Amer- 
ica in particular much has been accomplished. But the cradle 
of this rapidly developing science was in Germany. Here, as 
early as 1787, the German philosopher Dietrich Tiedemann 
published his ' ' Observations on the Development of the Minds 
of Children." This valuable contribution to empirical psy- 
chology, however, was quite neglected, and more than half a 
century passed before another important work on the psychol- 

1 1 am under great obligations to Dr. Alexander F. Chamberlain, of 
Clark University, Worcester, Mass., for notes on the status of child 
study in Italy. 



STATUS OP CHILD STUDY IN EUROPE. 9 

ogy of childhood appeared. In 1850, Berthold Sigismund, a 
German physician, published his ' ' Child and the World, ' ' whose 
fate was not unlike that of Tiedemann's book. 

Three decades later followed the classical work by the well- 
known phj^siologist.Wilhelm Preyer: "The Mind of the Child." 
This book, however, has been much less influential in stimula- 
ting investigations in Germany than in foreign countries. In 
1893, Preyer published a summary of his detailed and compre- 
hensive study under the title: "Mental Development in the 
First Years of Childhood." Considering the wide circulation 
which the writings of this famous physiologist have had in 
the United States, it may seem altogether superfluous to men- 
tion him as a pioneer in this field. 

Within ten years School Superintendent Christian Ufer has 
been especially zealous in arousing a deeper interest in child 
study in Germany. His important translations of child study 
literature into German have included ' ' The lyies of Children ' ' 
by G. Stanley Hall; ' ' Difierences between Normal and Abnormal 
Children" by Josiah Ro^^ce; " The Beginning of the Child's 
Mental Life " by Bernard Perez, and " Morality of Children " 
by Albert Schinz. He has also rendered important service to 
the child study cause by editing the writings of Tiedemann 
and Sigismund. As associate editor of Die Kinderfehler as 
well as in the contributions to child study (Beitrage zur Kinder- 
forschung) , he has given evidence of warm enthusiasm and com- 
prehensive views of childhood. His own original investigations 
— for example: "Characteristics of the Feeble Minded," 
" Feeble Minded Children in the Schools," " Mental Types and 
Related Phenomena, ' ' as well as the excellent article on ' ' Child 
Study" in Rein's Encyclopaedia of Pedagogy — give him a rec- 
ognized place as a capable investigator of child nature. 

Quite recently two comprehensive and original works have 
appeared that are of great significance to child-study interests 
in Germany. In a most formidable work of more than five 
hundred pages Professor Karl Groos, the Basel philosopher, has 
treated of the plays of men, with special reference to play ac- 
tivities during childhood. The first section of his book, treats 
of the play activities of the sensory and motor apparatus, and 
of the higher mental qualities. The second part treats of con- 
test, love, imitation and social plays. The point of view of' 
Professor Groos is entirely new. He maintains that the play 
of youth depends on the fact that certain instincts, especially 
useful in preserving the species, appear before they are serious- 
ly needed, and that they are, in contrast with later serious ex- 
ercise, a preparation and practice for special instincts. 

William Ament has also published a noteworthy book in his 
" Development of the Thoughts and Speech of Children." He 



lO STATUS OF CHILD STUDY IN EUROPE. 

has employed Preyer's method in his investigation, and his 
book rightly claims to represent a new and independent approach 
to child psychology. He outlines for the first time a complete 
grammar of the child's language and clearly shows that the 
child's early thinking can be referred back to the principles of 
association and reproduction. This work, like that by Groos, 
is of the utmost importance in the sphere of child study. 

The continually growing interest in child study has brought 
about the translation of a considerable number of foreign child 
study books into German: Sully's " Studies of Childhood," 
translated by the writer in 1897; Baldwin's " Mental Develop- 
ment in the Child and the Race, ' ' translated by Dr. Ortmann 
in 1898, and Tracy's " Psychology of Childhood," translated 
by the writer the during present year. 

The child has been exhaustively studied from the pathologi- 
cal point of view — first by the aged philosopher and pedagogue, 
Professor Ludwig Striimpell in his able work published in 1890 
entitled: " Pedagogical Pathology, or Teachings from the Faults 
of Children." A work of no less importance as a pioneer in 
the study of pathological conditions is that by the alienist Dr. 
Julius lyudwig August Koch. Although concerned primarily 
with the study of adults, his work touches at many points the 
pathology of childhood. His labors have since been ably sup- 
plemented, in their applications to children, by Director Johann 
Triiper, both in his publications and the organization of an 
educational institution at Sophienhohe (near Jena) for the care 
and training of backward and mentally deficient children. He 
is also one of the co-editors of Die Kinderfehler . Gustav 
Siegert, of lycipzig, has also made important contributions to 
the study of abnormal children. Besides his three large works : 
" Problematic Child Nature," " Periods in the Development of 
the Child," and "The ProblenuDf Child Suicides," he has con- 
tributed numerous valuable short articles to Rein's Encyclo- 
paedia of Pedagogy, 

Besides Die K'i7iderfehler, there are two other German re- 
views devoted especially to child study. In the ' ' Sammlung 
von Abhandlungen aus dem Gebiete der Padagogischen Psy- 
chologic und Physiologic," edited by Herman Schiller and 
Theodore Ziehen, several contributions have been made to 
child study, and notably Professor Ziehen's "Association of 
Children's Ideas." Since the first of the present year Dr. Fer- 
dinand Kemsies has published an excellent review, devoted to 
the study of both normal and abnormal children, entitled " Zeit- 
schrift fiir Pddagogische Psychologie. ' ' 

At the forthcoming summer session of the University of Jena, 
Superintendent Christian Ufer will give six lectures on ' ' Child 
Psychology from the Pedagogical Standpoint," and Director 



STATUS OF CHILD STUDY IN EUROPE. II 

Johann Triiper will offer six lectures on ' ' Abnormal Children 
and their Educational Treatment. " It is the intention to form 
at Jena during the session of the summer school an association 
for the study of children. 

On the whole, however, and especially when compared with 
the activities in the United States, Germany lags in the rear of 
the great child study movement. This state of affairs is ex- 
plained largely by the fact that the German universities (with 
the single exception of the University of Jena) have no prac- 
tice schools connected with their departments of pedagog5\ 
The lectures on pedagogy are given as secondary subjects by 
professors of philosophy, philology, and theology. And in the 
German normal schools one finds scarcely less attention given 
to the study of children than in the universities. 

Thus, it will be seen, that the interests represented by this 
department of the National Education Association, have numer- 
ous representatives in the old world ; although the present 
report on the status of child study in Europe is only partial — no 
atten]pt being made to include the accounts of the scattered 
movements in a half dozen countries outside of Western 
Europe. 



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